Canucks drop shootout to Rangers
Vesey nets tying and winning goals for New York; Vancouver now 2-1-0-1 on 6-game road trip
NEW YORK — The Rangers didn’t lead at any point until the seventh round of the shootout. They still managed to earn their fourth straight victory.
Jimmy Vesey scored the tying goal early in the third period and added the winner in the seventh round of a shootout as New York prevailed 4-3 over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.
“We have to feel good about what we’ve been doing here the past four weeks,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said after his 417th career NHL victory. “We had a tough time, but we got it done tonight with a really strong third. But we should definitely feel good about how we’re playing and finding ways to win.”
Lundqvist made 29 saves to help the Rangers extend their home winning streak to eight games.
Vesey tied it at 5:05 of the third with a nifty forehand-backhand combination for his fifth goal of the season. Rick Nash set up the goal with a spinning pass.
“The third period was our best. It was a little bit of a slow start,” said Nash, who also scored in the shootout. “Good teams find ways to win when they don’t play their best. We found a way to do that.”
Jesper Fast and Michael Grabner also scored for New York.
Loui Eriksson, Jake Virtanen and Sam Gagner replied for Vancouver, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots.
NOTES: Canucks D Alexander Edler skated in his 700th career NHL game . . . . Fellow Canucks D Erik Gudbranson missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury . . . . Canucks C Brandon Sutter suffered an injury against the Devils on Friday, and will also miss the final two games of this road trip.